Being Mean to Fat People Is Pointless: A Good Old-Fashioned Plea for Civility

[Honeycombe8]

7. Part of what you say is true. But you are in denial of the severity of the problem.

And that it IS a problem.

I come from a family where half the members were/are morbidly obese. Regardless of the reasons for the obesity, there is a tendency among the morbidly obese to be in denial of the problem, just as it is with a family of alcholics. Half the family is morbidly obese, and the other half are enablers.

It IS a form of child abuse to let your child become morbidly obese. It is something the child will find almost impossible to overcome as he grows up, and will affect the child's entire life, including income, happiness, sociability, love, productivity, and health. The parents are in total control of the child's weight. Not the child.

Denial is not the answer. It is not mean to directly address the seriousness of the problem. Many children are now obese. When I was a child, very few children were obese. Something HAS happened in our country on a basic level to change the health and happiness and size of our children.

It is being treated publicly, now, because the problem has gotten to such a large proportion that it can no longer be ignored. Just as if half of our children were alcoholics, or the majority of American adults were alcoholics.

There is one good thing about being morbidly obese. You don't have to worry much about Social Security or a large 401K; a morbidly obese person won't live long enough for that to be an issue.